STILLWATER, Okla. — There’s an odd twist in the Arkansas Razorbacks’ nonconference results for the last couple of decades that is largely illogical.
The quirk applies to Saturday’s marquee matchup between the University of Arkansas (1-0) and No. 16 Oklahoma State (1-0) at 11 a.m. Central at Boone Pickens Stadium.
In a large chunk of the Razorbacks’ home-and-away series in consecutive years against major college competition since 2003, the Razorbacks have opened the two-game set with a surprising road win. Interestingly, all the wins have come against either former Southwest Conference, Big 12 or soon-to-be Big 12 teams.
In its lone set against a Pac-12 opponent, Arkansas was pounded both on the road and at home against a Southern Cal team winning championships in its prime in 2005-06. A series against Rutgers, swept by the Scarlet Knights in 2012-13, doesn’t apply because it started in Fayetteville.
In Saturday’s affair, the Cowboys are favored by more than a touchdown at home, but the Razorbacks sound determined to bounce back from a 4-8 season with a big early upset like some of their predecessors.
“We have an opportunity to go make a statement on the national stage,” Arkansas senior guard Josh Braun said. “We’re an 11 a.m. kickoff on ABC. The entire country is going to be watching and we can see really what we’re made of this Saturday.”
Added senior safety Jayden Johnson, “I think it’s a chance for us to go out and showcase our talent, and show what this season is going to be like. I’m just ready to go play in a new environment.”
The Razorbacks have made those new environments happy places for their traveling fans four different times in recent memory in the start of two-game sets at Texas in 2003, at Texas Tech in 2014, at TCU in 2016 and at BYU in 2022.
Arkansas had been scheduled to start two-game series with Michigan and Notre Dame in the last six years, but the Wolverines bought out the contract set for 2018-19 for $2 million (ironically to get Notre Dame on their schedule), and the Hogs’ road game at Notre Dame in 2020 was postponed due to covid-19.
Arkansas beat the Longhorns 38-28 in 2003 in Austin, Texas, whipped Texas Tech 49-28 in 2014, edged TCU 41-38 in double overtime in 2016 and routed BYU 52-35 in 2022. Each of those teams returned the favor the following season, beating the Razorbacks at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Again, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. But the bottom line is Arkansas averaged 45 points per game in taking the first game on the road in these marquee matchups.
Fifth-year Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman was the offensive line coach when the Hogs cranked out 438 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns, with both Alex Collins (212 yards) and Jonathan Williams (145) going off on the Red Raiders in 2014 with soon-to-be phenom Patrick Mahomes relegated to the bench as a freshman.
Pittman was the head Hog in 2022 when Arkansas amassed 644 total yards and KJ Jefferson passed for five touchdowns in the win over BYU in Provo, Utah.
Pittman said he didn’t have an easy answer as to why Arkansas has prevailed so often in the series openers.
“I don’t know,” he said. “A lot of times you get your team on the road, you get them together, it’s just y’all versus everybody. That feeling, at times, if you have a real close team can make you play a little bit better.
“You don’t have the distractions of as many tickets and all that kind of stuff. I don’t really know the answer to that.”
There’s no way to know if history will repeat itself Saturday with the Cowboys a solid favorite at home, but Pittman believes his club will put up the effort.
“I think we’ll be ready to play Oklahoma State,” he said. “I know they will for us, but I think it’s going to be a really, really good game.”
Pittman envisions a super-physical matchup, the kind of game he thinks the Razorbacks are better positioned to win after going 1-5 in one-score games last season.
“I think this game, more than surprising somebody or schematics, I think this is going to be a, ‘You’re going to have to go whip somebody,’ and physically, to win,” he said. “So I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of mistakes. I just think there’s going to be a slobber-knocker a little bit.”
Arkansas has another interesting historical run at stake against Oklahoma State. A win would give the Razorbacks a 2-0 start for the fourth year in a row, a modest feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Coach Ken Hatfield’s did it five straight seasons from 1985-89.
Arkansas’ series against Oklahoma State, once a staple, has been dormant since 1980. The Razorbacks won the last meeting for their fifth in a row with a 33-20 victory in Little Rock.
Cowboys Coach Mike Gundy, who quarterbacked Oklahoma State from 1986-89, likes the idea of frequent matchups with the Razorbacks, whose campus is 180 miles from Stillwater as the closest out-of-state program in the Power 4.
“I think the series is good … because you’re going to want to play quality nonconference schedules now, so the (College Football Playoff selection) committee will have respect for that,” Gundy said. “And this is a good matchup because it’s 2 hours and 45 minutes away.
“You have a lot of crossover with people. There’s a lot of Arkansas people that can live up here. There’s a lot of Oklahoma people that have migrated over there with Walmart and all that stuff, so I think it is good.”
Oklahoma State is scheduled to play the return game in Fayetteville in 2027, and the schools are on the books for another two-game set in 2032-22, also starting in Stillwater.
The Cowboys have been one of the nation’s best programs under the leadership of Gundy, whose name was connected to a pair of Razorback coaching searches in 2012 and 2017.
In the last 14 of his 19 seasons at his alma mater, Gundy’s Oklahoma State ranks 10th in the FBS with 131 wins, just behind Notre Dame (133) and ahead of programs such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida State and Penn State. Oklahoma State is fifth in scoring in the country since 2010 with 6,814 points, an average of 37.23 per game.
Gundy’s 167 wins are the third-most among coaches at his current school, trailing only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (197) and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (170).
Gundy said the atmosphere at Boone Pickens Stadium has improved drastically over the last 15 years. The student section pounds the foam padding around the wall in their seating area and the stands run tight to the visiting team’s sideline to increase the volume level.
“They do a great job on game day,” said Oklahoma Coach Brent Venables, whose team lost in the final Bedlam rivalry game in Stillwater last November 27-24. “The fans there are passionate. They’re going to be on top of you. It’s a really tight sideline. It’s going to get really, really loud. It’s always a good atmosphere in Stillwater for them.”
An Achilles heel for the Razorbacks, a dodgy record in one-score games, has been a huge plus for the Cowboys in recent seasons.
Oklahoma State leads the nation with 34 wins by eight points or less since the start of the 2015 season, with the next-closest team, Northern Illinois, at 30 such wins. The Razorbacks are 15-28 one-score games in that same time period, including 6-14 in four seasons under Pittman.
But there is renewed hope for Arkansas with the return of Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator and the work of second-year defensive coordinator Travis Williams.
With Taylen Green at quarterback last week, Arkansas scored touchdowns on all 10 of its possessions, went 9 of 9 on third-down conversions and rushed for 279 yards behind an offensive line revamped through the transfer portal. Arkansas was the only team among the 133 in the FBS ranks to convert all their third down plays in season openers.
The Arkansas defense logged its first shutout under Williams in the 70-0 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and the program’s first since a 23-0 win over Tulsa in 2018. Additionally, the Razorbacks were able to rest their starters for virtually the entire second half and they got an extra day of preparation for the Cowboys by opening the season on a Thursday.
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Publish date : 2024-09-06 20:05:00
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